Comprehensive Description

Description

Brachiopods are bivalved animals unrelated to molluscs. Neocrania anomala looks rather like a limpet with a low conical shell or valve attached to a hard surface. The shell is oval in vertical view and up to 15 mm long. The other valve is cemented to the surface beneath the animal. The shell surface is smooth and has fine concentric lines. Shell colour is pale grey, yellow or white and is overlaid with a thin brown periostracum.Unusually for the inarticulate brachiopods, the shell contains calcium carbonate. In brachiopods the valves of the shell are dorso-ventral whereas in molluscs the valves are lateral.